The months of February and March are packed with things to do either with or without Bunac!

We will be sampling some famous London theatre on Wednesday 24th February. We are hoping to have a roaring good time, as we will be seeing the Lion King! Tickets are just £23 and are seats for the front row of the Grand Circle at the Lyceum Theatre.

Our Easter 4 day trip Friday 2nd - Monday 5th April is to Amsterdam and to add, our accommodation will be on a barge! There will also be a canal cruise and a trip to a clog and cheese factory as well as visiting the beautiful town of Zaanse Schanse. Returning we will go via the wonderful city of Bruges as well as a stop at a unique Belgium hypermarket to purchase some cheap goodies! Priced £269 the trip will depart from International Students House at 6.05am on Friday & returns Monday night around 9pm.

As well as our trips we also have our regular pub meets. The next pub meet is Wednesday February 3rd at the Old Queens Head pub, so come along and meet some fellow BUNACers…you never know you might just meet that special travel buddy! The nearest tube stop is Angel for more details and directions visit www.bunac.org/events.

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We are very excited to offer you all the chance to win a 3 day trip to Paris worth £209! International Friends, www.internationalfriends.co.uk, have generously offered 1 lucky person a free spot on their Paris trip leaving London on Friday 5th March. The trip provides accommodation, a guided tour and River Seine cruise and your travel by coach and ferry! The date is not transferrable so please only enter the trip if you know you can make the 5th March. You can find more details on the website at www.internationalfriends.co.uk/paris-by-coach.html. To enter please send us an e-mail with the subject: ‘Win a trip to Paris’, including your mobile number by Friday 12th February. We will pick the winner on Monday 15th February.

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Are you a budding film maker or director? Or do you love Britain and want to share your view of it with others? Then read on! The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have launched a campaign which may be of interest to some of you. The ‘See Britain Through My Eyes’ campaign is all about using the lead up to the Olympic Games in London in 2012 as an opportunity to help improve perceptions of Britain and British people overseas.

To celebrate this unique moment in time, the FCO has launched a competition dedicated to capturing personal stories from all corners of the globe about the modern UK. They’re inviting people to unleash their story telling talents and make a 1-3 minute ‘Britain Through My Eyes’ film clip. Anyone who enters a film clip will be in with the chance to have their story professionally produced.

The Britain Through My Eyes competition is open to everyone, but they are especially interested in hearing from foreign nationals who are living, studying or working in the UK, or who have done so in the past, as you have a unique perspective on what Britain is all about and can help make people back in their home countries see Britain differently.

If you’re interested in getting involved with this exciting project then you have time as the deadline for entries is March 5th. For further details take a look at the website.

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What better way to mark the start of Lent than by flipping pancakes! Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday, is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent where all ingredients like eggs, milk and butter were not eaten again until Easter. So get some plain flour, eggs, milk and butter and start flipping! If you wanted to see how your pancake flipping skills compare with others then why not enter ‘The Great Spitalfields Pancake Race’ starting at 12:30pm outside the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane (nearest tube is Shoreditch). Teams of four people run a relay race round a course whilst flipping batter. Supply your own pan and the pancakes are supplied for you, the prize is your very own engraved frying pan!



If you fancy celebrating the start of the Year of the Tiger and joining in on the Chinese New Years festivities, then there will be lots to entertain you in London. Lion and Dragon dances will take place in Chinatown and traditional Chinese arts will take place in Trafalgar Square from 12-6pm. Chinatown will host cultural stalls, food and lion dance displays and later on there will be a firework display from Leicester Square.



Rugby in the UK may not be as widely loved as football but it is an exciting game to watch and a must-see during your time here. The 6 Nations tournament consists of Europe’s six top rugby nations battling it out to win the prestigious championship and kicks off in February with matches throughout Europe. Big games to watch out for are:

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St Patrick’s Day is a great opportunity to experience the “craic” the Irish way! The most authentic way to celebrate this is, of course, in Ireland itself and there are many different tour companies offering St Patrick’s Day trips. Try and book early as they get full very quickly! For more details try these websites:

www.radicaltravel.com (15% discount available to BUNAC participants) www.paddywagontours.com

There will be plenty of celebrations all over the UK during the whole weekend. The main St.Patrick’s day parade and festival in London will take place on Sunday 14th March. The celebrations will be centred around Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square. If you are in Edinburgh the whole city will be a street party! So you can choose which one of the many pubs to celebrate in. For those of you in other areas of the country there is bound to be a party in your local Irish pub!



An opportunity to see two of the most prestigious universities battle it out on the River Thames! Since 1829, Oxford and Cambridge have held an annual rowing race along a four mile stretch of the Thames. Go to www.theboatrace.org to view the map and where the best places are to watch it from. Over 250,000 supporters turn out on the river banks to cheer on either university so this is a big deal with huge rivalry between the two sides!

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The Six Nations Rugby tournament is coming to Edinburgh. The three big matches taking place at Murrayfield Stadium are:

Sunday 7th February, Scotland vs. France
Saturday 13th March, Scotland vs. England

Tickets are available for the matches and to buy tickets, go to www.scottishrugby.org. During all of the matches Edinburgh will be buzzing so head down to one of the bars on Rose Street where you’ll be able to watch the matches on TV.



Have any of you every heard of Strip The Willow or The Dashing White Sergeant?!! If so, then you already know a little bit about ceilidh dancing. It is traditional Scottish dancing where everybody can join in regardless of their ability!! It is usually done in pairs or groups of eight, and will probably be one of the best nights you will have whilst in Scotland. Go to www.edinburghceilidhs.com for more information. All of the ceilidhs have callers, so no previous experience needed!!

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BUNAC have both ISIC and IYTC cards available for you to purchase at the office. If you are a student you will need to show us proof of student status. If you are under 26 but not a student, then you can purchase an IYTC card. Both cost £9 and you’ll need a passport style photo. Hop over to the office to get the card or find the application form online and mail it to us. ISIC cards offer you discounts all over the UK and world. Find out more on the ISIC website, www.isiccard.com.



Remember that BUNAC can forward your bank mail to you for free, you just need to let us know your address and that you would like us to forward your bank mail. You can also sign up for our full mail forwarding service (for non-bank mail) for a one-off fee of £5. We have a lot of mail here at BUNAC, so if you do not want us to forward your mail, please come and check your mail on a regular basis.



Please remember that you need to fill out your report cards to keep BUNAC up to date with your details. Your 2nd report card needs to be completed once you have a job and a place to live and your 3rd report card needs to be filled out when you have finished on the programme. You can complete your report cards quickly and easily online at our website www.bunac.org/incoming.

Amanda & Caroline
Incoming Programmes, BUNAC, 16 Bowling Green Lane, London, EC1R 0QH.
Email: wib@bunac.org.uk